It s winter carnival time in Tyler. Button up your parka and take a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the deceptively quiet streets of America s favorite hometown.
Each book set in Tyler is a self-contained story; together, they stitch the fabric of a community.
Janice Eber is shattered by her husband s sudden death. But that s nothing compared to how she feels when she discovers his devastating secret.
David Markus loved Janice once. He still does. But will Janice be able to overcome the pain of her husband s betrayal and return David s love?
This book was airplane reading. It is in the Tyler series. I like the Tyler books, because they are about a small town. This book was alright. The plot was pretty predictable. I found it interesting that a man in the book died (not suicide, just died) to cover up his secret life.
Fluff. The problems of a new relationship (and 2 from the past) all solved w/in the covers of this book. Good light reading for one on pain-killers for a broken arm.
I feel like a version of this book could exist today, except the widow would be 30, and the betrayal of the husband having a second family wouldn't feel as deep because they'd have barely been married. Anyway, I LOVE that we get this book with an older heroine (there are multiple of those in the series which is really the most stark evidence that these are from a different time), who is rebuilding her life after the unexpected death of her husband and how she tries on multiple things and just...keeps going because there's nothing else to do. As a random aside, there is a lake name in this book that I don't know if is real or fake but if it IS fake, they did a tremendous job with the world building because it could easily be real.
This story was about a husband who was having an affair(s)? and a wife who was clueless. Kurt took care of everything. Upon his sudden death and she started going thru his papers she found evidence of another woman in his life. He had been supporting this second family (a young woman w/o much education and their 2yr old son. The wife Janice went to see the girlfriend didn't all of his travelling wasn't just for business. There was a weird blip in the book in which the young woman revealed to the wife that Kurt had been traveling to Wisconsin to see his ailing mother whom he checked up on (a lie). There was no other reference about this, the wife didn't blow up about or anything. She stated that his parents had died while he was in college. An editor should have caught this. this another book in the welcome to tyler series. Both were just mediocre.
Pretty good story with a bit of intrigue. Strong female main character. There were a few steamy scenes, but not overly graphic. A mild amount of swearing.
Janice Ingalls Eber husband, Kurt, had died suddenly of a heart attack at age 46. One of those attending the funeral was his college roommate, David Markus. David and Janice had dated before she met Kurt and David wasn't ready for a serious relationship so he bowed out and let Janice be overwhelmed by him. Kurt convinced Janice to quit school and become his wife. She allowed Kurt to make all the decisions and never questioned him. She quit school and stayed at home to raise their two children, Stephanie and K.J., Kurt Jr. Kurt sold insurance and was a partner in the business. He traveled to Chicago quite a bit and Janice never questioned him about it. His partner told her that Kurt was opening an office there. Janice was left to figure out where the were financially and to gather the bills and see that they got paid. Janice had decisions to make regarding the ownership of the business too. She talked with her best friend, Anne, who suggested that she call David, a financial advisor. Kurt and David had stayed in touch and seen each other when Kurt was in Chicago. Janice hadn't see David since college. David come by to look at the business books and went to Janice's house to talk over what he had found out. He told her that she as in satisfactory shape but some decisions needed to be made rather quickly as to whether she would take over for Kurt, let Tom run the business or buy her out. Janice made the decision to go back to school and learn the business. Her children were in college and had lives of their own. They were satisfied that Janice was going to be okay after their father's death. Janice continued to go through Kurt's papers and discovered a checkbook that she knew nothing about. The checks were cashed by someone named Dianne Flynn. She later found receipts for an apartment in Chicago and she became concerned that maybe he was having an affair. She went and spoke to her best friend, Anne Kelsey, again and Anne told her that she had found out that her deceased husband had had numerous affairs. Janice just needed to decide what to do with the information she found. Janice thought about calling David and asking him to see if he could locate the woman but decided to wait a bit. David called Janice a few times to check on her progress. She was happy that she seemed to be doing well in her classes. It was a couple months after his death that he heard about a Winter Carnival in her town and called to ask her if she wanted to go there with him. She accepted and they ended up getting stuck in a snowstorm. Kurt got her home but ended up having to stay the night. They kissed but she would let it go no further. Janice finished her classes and did well. She got the necessary licenses and worked in the office with Tom. She gave a presentation and kept a big client. She was proud of herself. She called David to tell him what she was done. David told her that he was proud of her and he complimented her as he had begun to do on a regular basis. Janice finally decided to do something about the information she had found regarding her finances and Kurt. She found out where the apartment was located and called David and told him. David tried to hold back the information that he knew about Kurt because he knew that it would hurt her. He didn't tell her that he knew what she was looking for. He told her to forget about it and move on from Kurt since he was dead. Janice called Tom and took a few days off of work. She drove to Chicago and talked to the manager of the apartment complex that she had the receipts from. The manager remembered Kurt and told her about him renting the place for a woman. She asked him for a forwarding address and gave her the woman's mail to deliver. Janice went to see her and Diane thought that Janice might be his sister. Janice found out that Kurt had been seeing her for years. She was 22 when they first met to Kurt's 44 years old. They talked and Janice found out that the woman didn't know he was married. Kurt had told her that he couldn't marry her because he couldn't afford to take care of a wife and his sick mother. Janice told her that she was his wife and they had two children. His parents had both died while they were in college. Then Janice met their 2 yr old son, Sammy. Janice had to leave. She drove to David's place in Chicago. David was surprised and glad to see her. He showed her his home and she paled when he left her outside and a squirrel came to get some nuts from the table. David called the squirrel Sammy. She told David about Diane and found out that he already knew of her. Janice told him about their son, Sammy and he realized why she had such a reaction to the squirrel's name. David told her that he didn't know about the boy. Janice told David that night that she wanted to make love to him and he accepted her offer. Kurt had been dead for a little over two months at this time and she was seeing David regularly now. She had taken time off of work to clean out their bedroom and get rid of his clothes. Anne was happy to see the progress and stopped by to say hello. She was surprised to see that Janice was doing all the work on the house out of anger. Janice then told Anne about Kurt's girlfriend and son. Anne told her that she thought that Kurt had chosen a woman who made him feel like a hero. With Janice, Kurt was always competing with her family. It wasn't pressure that Janice put on him but rather pressure he put on himself. Anne told Janice that she couldn't blame herself for her husband's failings. David and Janice continued to see each other and David told Janice that he wanted to marry her but something was holding her back. That was the fact that David was completely opposite of Kurt in that he let Janice make all the decisions. She came to that realization and told him that she wanted a 50/50 relationship. He told her that his wife had died because he wasn't around to take care of her or let her have any say in their lives. He was too busy working. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He told her that she could work wherever she wanted and they would live where she chose. He didn't care whether it was in Tyler or Chicago. They argued about the fact that he was too agreeable. K. J. and Janice had talked and he told her that he wanted to quit taking business classes and become an artist, a cartoon artist in particular. He called after she had found out about Diane and Janice told him over the phone. She had planned on telling him in person but he told her that after school was over he was going to take a job in Chicago for the summer. It wasn't too long after that when Stephanie came to see Janice and tell her that she was getting married in June because she was pregnant. She wasn't thrilled about it because she'd had her life mapped out. She was going to get married in two years and work for a year after she finished school. She would then quit to have a couple of kids and spend her time at home raising them. Being pregnant wasn't in her plans. Stephanie was told about Kurt's other family too. After David and Janice argued about him being too compliant, she went to see Anne. They talked about her going back to school to learn design. She was going to purchase a location for the insurance business rather than rent. She was going to let Tom run the company and maybe eventually buy her out. Anne told her that she needed to have another talk with David and get things straightened out. Janice went home and David was sitting on her front step. He apologized and told her that he would work on making their relationship 50/50. They would learn to work together rather than one or the other making all the decisions. Janice then agreed to marry him.
Written in 1992 this series is definitely dated on so many levels. It does fit the bill as escapist reading of the very lightest sort. It is part of a series of stories about the residents of a small town in Wisconsin and how they are all inter-related.
This was a charming novel following the life of Janice over a period of six months. Despite being in the middle of a series of books, you can easily read it on it's own without feeling lost. While the book may be classified as a romance, the romance is more of a background plot device and the focus is more on the grief of dealing with the death of a loved one and coming to terms of a new beginning in life. The transitions throughout Janice's life felt realistic and relatable, and her relations with the other characters felt genuine. I enjoyed the slow-burner styled romance in this book; it was a refreshing experience after reading so many fast-paced romance novels. The flow of the text was easygoing and well-balanced with serious discussions about grief and life after the death of a loved one, humorous interactions between the characters on events taking place, and the romantic encounters between Janice and David.
A nice, mature love story. I picked this up for fifty cents at a used bookstore purely because it had a quilt on the cover. My expectations were rock bottom, but it managed to exceed them. David is a kind and gentle man and Janice is stronger than she realizes. They are both mature adults who are able to talk through their problems. I haven't read many romance novels, but I'm pretty sure male love interests of this caliber are few and far between. He and Janice have a refreshing dynamic and their happy ending feels earned. They're the kind of couple you can see lasting a long time. Well worth the time to read.
I really enjoyed Sunshine. It is written really well and realistic for the most part from beginning to end. I liked Janice's and David's journey as they grew individually and together. Though the switching narratives sometimes seemed a little choppy, their perspectives came through really well.
Janice Ebers husband dies and I'm VERY shocked at what happens after! I mean, this is TYLER. Who does stuff like that in TYLER???? C'mon, man! Luckily David, who has loved Janice since college, is there to help her pick up the pieces.
When Janice's husband dies she realizes she's always depended on him to make all the decisions and pretty much take care of everything. She has no idea where they are financially or what's going on in his insurance business. She also had no idea he was seeing another woman. She reconnects with a college boyfriend who was also friends with her deceased husband and comes to find that she is ready to start a new life. This was a very sweet little story about two people finding that it's never too late to start over and love again. The characters were genuine and had believable chemistry with each other. I was disappointed that no progress was made in the mystery of the Body at the Lake, and also that there were very few cameos from people featured in the previous books. This is much more of a stand-alone novel than any of the others in the series.